Bermondsey Market was a North London market, known as the Caledonian Market (due to its location on Caledonian Road in Islington). Originally, a bustling drover’s market with cattle, sheep and pigs, its nature started to change when there was no longer need to sell animals. The ‘flea market’, which emerged in due course, didn’t survive World War II. Out of the blue, in 1948, the same market reopened in Bermondsey Square as the New Caledonian Antiques Market.
Bermondsey Market, as it is now referred to, is London’s most serious weekly antiques market with over 500 traders and has an unrivalled world-wide reputation, which attracts buyers from around the globe. The merchandise takes in late Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian pieces. The market stalls specialise in smaller items – china, silverware, jewellery, original LP’s and other antique collectibles – while in the surrounding warehouses it is possible to buy anything from old street signs to the wooden interior of a Victorian Public House.
A range of permanent antique shops along Bermondsey Street and Tower Bridge Street also complements the market. But you have to get there early!
